Online communities, such as social networking sites, continue to grow in popularity as they allow participants to safely interact with other participants in a virtual environment. However, the potential for interaction between the various participants may not be readily apparent, and this may limit the actual interactions that take place between the participants. Some prior art solutions have attempted to define potential relationships between individuals. However, this has been based on limited analysis of user activity or self-identification through surveys, resulting in mapping of only simple connections between users.